This site and its partners use technology such as cookies to personalize content and ads and analyse traffic. By using this site you agree to its privacy policy. You can change your mind and revisit your choices at anytime in future.

Grateful to those who supported her through this rather tough time, she says this incident has helped her learn to face her fears.

Updated: Sep 02, 2018 11:57:37

By Aneesha Bedi

Dehradun woman was gangraped by auto driver and his two aides on November 17, 2017.
(HT Photo)

Staring at the clock in her office, the 22-year-old rape survivor waited restlessly for someone to inform her about the verdict in the auto gangrape case. Even as the real estate firm employee decided to stick to her 10am to 6pm routine, deep down she was fighting her fears.

A little less than a year after this Dehradun woman was gangraped by auto driver and his two aides on November 17, 2017, the quantum of sentence — life term until death — came as a major relief to her, having spent sleepless nights for the past one week.

Grateful to those who supported her through this rather tough time, she says this incident has helped her learn to face her fears. Laud her for being brave and she says she’s always been like this: “main bacchpan se hi kuch faaltu nahi seh sakti thi (I can’t stand nonsense since childhood).”

‘Keeping busy’

But at the same, the incident also gave her a jolt and made her turn into an introvert, she says. Thanks to her close friends, she feels she’s progressing. Mental breakdowns continue to bother her, but “keeping busy” — she answers in tight sentences — she has found a way to move on. Taking her work seriously, she wants to focus on getting a job on a good position with a reputed company one day. A fitness freak, the daily fitness classes have also helped her overcome depression.

Recalling how discomforting the last week has been, she says her friends helped her through it all, and continues to maintain that the incident is best hidden from her parents. “I didn’t step out at night for a few months, but life can’t stop. I live in a paying guest accommodation, so I have to (step out). But taking the same route is tough.”

Having come over the earlier knee-jerk reactions — like thoughts of moving back to Dehradun — she says she can now face anyone as “it was never my fault”. “I might have cried myself to sleep off late, but I think I knew justice would eventually prevail and that consoles me today.”

Her trauma can’t be overlooked: Court

“This court had an opportunity to understand the trauma of the victim... (It) cannot be overlooked. The ghastly incident has changed her life completely,” reads the court order.

The judge also elaborated upon how the woman suffered not only physical assault but was emotionally traumatised as well: “The victim was brave enough to report to the police and fight her case but despite that the incident will adversely impact her psychology for all times to come.”

The court said the accused did not only enjoy the act of sexual assault, but also the helplessness of the victim as the crime was executed in the most brutal manner with no mercy or show of human dignity to the victim.